That Other Malfoy
by PinkSprayBottle
Summary: Hi, my name is Evangeline Malfoy. My brother Scorpius gets all the fame, but I deserve some too. I'm going to tell you a story, a love story, of how I fell in love with Albus Severus Potter. 2nd gen. minor scorily, albusXoc
1. Chapter 1

My name is Evangeline Malfoy. Most of you don't know me, but guess what? I exist! All the Malfoy glory goes to my older brother, Scorpius, which is so not fair. I _am_ the prettier one, and the smarter one, _and_ the better one. I'm picture perfect, with my sleek and shiny white blond hair, my blinding white smile, and my very Malfoy-esque manners.

Okay, fine, I'm lying. But I'm a good actress, and that's not a lie. It's only the beginning, I can't lie to you. Yet. Yes, I thought that with a menacing tone. I'm kidding, I can't lie. This is going to be the total and entire truth, no matter how much that will torture me, but then again, I need to confide in someone, right? Well, you lucky little prat, that someone is you.

Let's start over. My name is Evangeline Malfoy, and then that other junk. Better bear with me, my lovelies, this is going to be a long story. Oh, what is this story, you ask? It's a love story, but it's not a sappy, my-insides-are-melting type story. I am going to tell you exactly how a prestigious Malfoy fell in love with a Potter. Yes, I know scandalous. Not really.

You may think this is a Scorpius and Lily story, but sorry. Not that I don't love them or something, I honestly do. But the truth is, I love Albus (and myself) a wee bit more.

Yes, readers. I fell in love with Albus Severus Potter, and I'm going to tell you exactly how. Oh, and don't worry, there'll be Scorp and Lils too, he's my brother, and she's my best friend, how could I exclude them?

I'm not telling you who I am, not my name, but who I _really_ am. I hope you can learn more about me and by the end of my tale, you'll know who I, Evangeline Malfoy, am.

How about I start? It all started with September 1st, my first year of Hogwarts. Scorpius was right beside me, trying to scare me.

"Oh, Ange, you'll probably be sent back home. They make you're special enough, and I don't think you are." He said, slightly smiling. I frowned and huffed. "I _am_ more special than you could ever be, Scorpius! Just look at me," I said indignantly.

He pretended to ponder that. "I'd rather not. Who would _want_ to look at you?" he grinned. I made a face and stomped on his right foot. He howled in pain, and cried, "Angie!"

"See?" I smiled innocently. "I'm so special, I brought the oh so great Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy to his knees."

He quickly got up and cleared his throat. Our mother and father looked on disapprovingly. "That's not becoming of you, Evangeline," My father said crossly, but he winked at me when Scorpius went off to find his friends. "That's my girl." He ruffled the top of my hair, and I ducked, smoothing it out.

"Daaaaddy…" I complained.

"Astoria, how did I let my little Angie grow up so fast?" he asked and my mother smiled through her tears. She suddenly enveloped me in a hug, and my breathing became faster as she cut off my circulation.

I swallowed, not allowing my eyes to betray me in public. "I'll write every day, Mum." I promised solemnly. She let out an airy laugh. "That's what they all say, Ange. Scorp said that too, you know."

"I won't be a disappointment, then." I said cheekily. They laughed, and I watched my father lift my trunk onto the train and I climbed on, waving at my tearful parents. Scorpius appeared by my side right before we left, after exchanging quick hugs and kisses to Mum and Dad.

"Did you cry?" he questioned.

I scoffed. "Of course not."

He raised his eyebrows and I playfully shoved him, accidently pushing him into a compartment. There were four people inside, three redheads and a boy who looked remarkably like Harry Potter, the Chosen One, hero dude who killed Lord I Don't Have a Nose. I've seen pictures, horrible, nightmare inducing pictures.

Scorpius immediately grinned. "Brethren, we meet again." I gave him a weird look. Mental sociopath.

"Excuse my brother, he was always a little on the peculiar side." I told the group. The Harry Potter clone burst out laughing.

Scorpius glared at him. "Shut up, Albus." He pouted. "Oh, this is my sister, _Evangeline Helena Malfoy_."

"It's Angie. Just Angie," I shot Scorpius my evil stare of evilness. "And that's all."

The boy called Albus regarded me, his head slightly tilted. I held his gaze for a while; his eyes were intense green almond shaped eyes with flecks of gold. He smiled ever so slightly, just long enough so I could see it and feel a blush creep up my neck. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

I was sitting next to a girl who looked my age. She had long red hair and soft brown eyes, but she looked as though she could knock someone unconscious in five seconds flat and get away with it. I decided I better make friends with this girl.

"I'm Lily," she said. "That horrible excuse for a human being is my brother over there, and these are my cousins, Rose and Hugo."

Albus stuck his lower lip out and frowned, making maybe possibly the most adorable face known to mankind. "Aw, Lils, but you love me anyway."

Lily looked skeptical. Scorpius pulled out a fistful of galleons as the Trolley Lady came near. "My treat," he said, dropping the coins on the table between all of us. I shook my head a pulled out a mix of gold and silver, and threw them on the table. The others took this as a challenge.

By the time the Trolley Lady came to our compartment, there was a huge mound of gold, silver, and bronze coins on the table, slipping off the sides.

She gave us a pained look. "Would you like the whole cart?" she asked. She then laughed. "I'd be happy to give it to you, you're the last ones."

Scorpius reached for a chocolate frog hesitantly. "Go ahead, dear." The Trolley Lady levitated about a fourth of the coins into a large drawstring bag and left.

We dug in the moment she was out of view. I hated to admit, but I was starving beyond starving. I was too nervous to eat that morning; I had decided I would wait for the feast instead.

I munched on Pumpkin Pasties and giggled as Hugo, Scorp, and Albus had a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean eating competition. Scorpius shoveled them into his mouth and I shook my head slowly.

He put the box down and passed it to me tauntingly. "What, you can do better?" he challenged. Ah, dear brother, rookie mistake. Of course I could do better. Wise words of advice; never challenge a hungry girl.

"I'm going to crush you." I threatened Albus. He grinned and shrugged, "Oh, so this is how it is? I see, Ange. Be that way."

I dumped the remaining contents of the box into my mouth, grabbed the box from which Albus was eating from and poured his box down my throat too, and slammed it down triumphantly.

My brother and his friends looked slightly scared, to tell you the truth. "Are you all right, Angie?" Rose asked worriedly.

I laughed. "Better than ever, my friend." I laughed uncontrollably until they joined me.

"Merlin, Ange, how'd you do that?" Albus asked me. I stared into his deep eyes and stayed there for a few moments. "I'm special, Albus. Isn't that right, Scorp?"

He shook his head violently, but I could see him hiding a smile. We started to nod off a bit after that, but Lils and I were chatting away. We immediately bonded, and talked about almost everything until Hugo told his cousin to shut up and Scorpius rubbed his eyes and groaned at us, telling us he needed his beauty sleep.

That didn't help the cause of Us Shutting Up For The Sake Of People's Sleep. It only caused us to giggle more. I'm not usually a giggly girl, but considering the amount of candies and chocolates I had devoured, I had the right to anything in my non-sober state. I believe that was called a sugar high.

Scorpius, Rose, and Albus went one way, while Lily, Hugo, and I all piled into a boat, following Hagrid, one of my favorite people in the world.

"Firs' years, over here!" he called out, beckoning the rest over. Two more people got in our boat, a black haired girl with huge glasses that dominated her face, and a boy with deep brown hair and a permanent smirk etched on his face.

"I'm Angie," I said brightly. The girl peered at me and smiled. The boy nodded and I breathed in and out nervously as Lily and Hugo introduced themselves.

"I'm Annalise Corner." The black haired girl said timidly, and went back to staring at the soaking wet interior of the boat.

"I'm Jakob Nott," he said. "And I'm dying of starvation."

Yup, I liked this Jakob person. Anyone who's as hungry as I was would earn my respect. I nodded in agreement, and said, "Respect, Nott."

He half-smiled at me and we sat in silence, until Lily spoke up. "What house do you think you'll be sorted in?" she asked us.

I shrugged. "Probably Slytherin, but maybe Ravenclaw," I replied confidently. With my blood lineage, there weren't many houses I could be possibly sorted into.

"I'm a Raven. I already know," Annalise put out. "But then again, the Hat decides."

As we bobbed along, I tried to focus on looking at the castle for the first time. I knew I would never get that feeling ever again. Seeing the castle for the first time sent my stomach in a twist, but in a pleasant way, like during the plunge when riding a coaster.

"It's beautiful," Lily breathed softly. I sighed and smiled. And best of all, it was my new home. Not that I didn't like Malfoy Manor. Hogwarts felt different, it would welcome everyone and give them a place to call home.

Professor McGonagall stood near the front of the huge oak doors, a little past the barbed fence and gate. I almost dared to touch it when Lily hit my arm and shook her head violently. Well, she was right; I didn't exactly want to get blasted with some powerful unknown magic that could turn me into a giant panda, for all I knew.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, students. Please follow me into the Great Hall," she led us through the breathtaking castle. The staircases twisted and turned, and I already could picture myself getting lost. "It is time for the Sorting. Come up when I call your name."

I anticipated my name coming out of her mouth. She started with, "Ambers, Janet," and continued. I watched my classmates get sorted into various houses, with equal amounts of loud applause. Annalise was sorted into Ravenclaw like she predicted, and the Hat kept sorting, until the dreaded words came out of McGonagall's mouth.

"Malfoy, Evangeline?" I looked down at the ground, forcing my feet to move forward until I stood facing the intimidating witch.

I hopped on the stool, my stomach clenching; I was dead scared. Either that or I was hungry.

"A Malfoy, you say? Well this isn't hard at all… SLYTHERIN!" the Hat cried and I broke out in a smile. Scorpius grinned, pounding me on the back in that one weird boyish way, but I couldn't help but smiling. I slid in next to him, thankful he didn't complain, right across from Albus and another older guy. I sent Albus a proud smirk and he raised his goblet to me, even though it was empty.

"Hey, Scorp, what did you say about me not being special again?" I asked, and he groaned.

"Fine, you're _special_," he admitted. "_Not_." He added under his breath. I punched his arm,

I was only hoping Lily would join me. Albus was a Slytherin, so maybe she would be sorted into Slytherin as well.

"Nott, Jakob?" McGonagall called. I heard, "Slytherin!" and my table erupted in applause.

He sat down next to Albus and grinned, "Told you,"

"I never said anything."

"Well, I win anyway."

"Nuh uh. I _always_ win."

"Not anymore," Jakob challenged. I smirked at him.

"I could kick your arse at Quidditch," I offered.

"Bet you couldn't," he argued with a playful tone. He was so my new best friend.

I hadn't even noticed that Lily had been sorted in Slytherin. She bit back a smile as she walked over, and then frowned.

"Lily? You okay?" I questioned. She laughed as she shook her head. "I was looking forward to beating you on the Quidditch Pitch, Albus."

Albus raised his eyebrows and faced Lily with a solemn expression. "You, me, Ange, Scorp, Jakob, and James on the field, tomorrow. You in?"

Lily slammed her hand down. "You're on." Scorpius smiled knowingly and shook his head. "Warning; we'll most probably crush you." He said, and I snorted at my idiotic brother. Oh, I meant _bother_.

"You don't know who you're up against, Ange," Albus warned.

"Well, Mister Albus Severus Potter, I look forward to _whipping your arse_ out on the field." I shot back with a flirty smile.

He smirked. "Good luck with that," he said, leaning towards me. I stared determinedly at him, forcing myself to not blush, but instead manage a signature Malfoy smirk and say, "We'll see, Potter."

"See we shall," he replied. Scorpius chuckled. "No chance, Ange." He said, and I stabbed my piece of pot roast with my golden fork.

We made casual conversation during the feast. I gorged out on mince meat pies, mashed potatoes, and an array of desserts. I stuffed the rest of my treacle tart into my mouth, savoring the sweet delicacy.

I wish I could've stayed like that forever and ever, just sitting around with my newfound friends, feeling content and best of all, not hungry. Yes, it's true; for once in my life I _wasn't_ hungry. It's a miracle. Just like that night.


	2. Chapter 2

The first day passed by in a blur, mostly me getting myself and Lily horribly lost. Well, what am I to do? I'm the girl who got lost in the dorms at approximately two in the morning, doing what I believe muggles call 'The Potty Dance'. Okay, fine, I'll explain.

I'm pretty sure I scared my new dorm mates, jumping up and down with my legs crossed and squirming like a worm in the process of being dissected. Okay, not _exactly _like a worm getting dissected, but somewhere in that zone. It was finally Lily who woke and the sounds at my agitated wails. Hey, don't judge me! I had to freaking pee, all right?

"Merlin, Lily, I've lost the toilets!" I whisper-shouted in the darkness.

"Angie, have I ever told you that you may quite possibly be the strangest person I've ever met?" Lily questioned as she led me down a narrow hallway. She pointed at a door and I sighed of relief, bursting through the door.

Lily looked about to die of silent laughter as I shot her an innocent smile. "Whatever did I do, Lils?"

"Don't get me started," she warned. "Or we'll be here for hours."

And that, my friends is how my wonderful experience at Hogwarts started. With a dissected worm dance and sneaking out to the toilets at two in the morning.

Yes, yes, I know, I'm _highly_ dysfunctional. Pshh, like that matters. So anyway, after the whole bathroom thing, we went back to our four-posters and tried to get some sleep in.

I was the first one awake, obviously.

"IT'S MORNING TIME!" I shouted loudly, causing several groans. I threw my blankets off and sprinted for the showers, relishing the fact I could get hot water. Scorpius scared me with the horrible stories of… wait for it, _cold shower water_. I'm not even kidding. Ice-cold lake water to leave you shivering; probably my worst nightmare at Hogwarts.

By the time I came back to the dorms, wringing my sopping wet hair with a fluffy white towel, people were up and getting ready. Lily was at war with her hair, it seemed. She looked ready to murder.

"How's the battle?" I asked tentatively. She let out a growl and replied with, "It's raging on. HEEELPP MEEE!'

We struggled with that for a few minutes and then I finally got her fiery hair to cooperate, falling down her back in softer waves. "Better?" I smiled.

"Oh, you're magical, Ange!" she pounced at me, tackling me in a bear hug. Yup, that's my friend Lily Luna for you.

We shrugged on our baggy robes and went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. We found Albus and Scorpius at the table, chatting with Jakob about whatever it is guys talk about.

The Hall was full of excited chatter and various conversations at the house tables, and I felt nervous again. "So, you sure you don't want to chicken out of our Quidditch game?" Scorpius asked. I snorted.

"Not going to work, Scorp. We'll only leave you in the dust," I promised. "Besides, we want to prove that we could beat you."

Lily handed me a steaming bowl of oatmeal. I nudged her in thanks, my mouth was busy getting food shoveled into it. Albus stared at me like I was some sort of wild animal. "What?" I asked.

He grinned at me. "You eat more than Scorpius, Angie."

"I s'pose. Is that bad?"

"I find it extremely attractive, Malfoy."

I turned red and stared down at the bowl. "I'm sure you do," I muttered softly with an uneasy smile.

Lily looked slightly alarmed as she watched students leaving the Hall. She shoved a map at me. "Let's hope you have better luck finding classes than the toilets,"

I tried hard not to smile and rose with her, blowing a kiss at my brother to annoy him and left.

Twenty minutes later, I wasn't particularly as cheerful. I kicked a staircase in frustration. "How hard is it to find a Charms classroom?!" That was just perfect. I couldn't find my classes _and_ my foot was hurting like hell.

Lily paced around, we seemed to be on the second floor, but some stair case had shifted and we found ourselves not at Charms, but hopelessly lost.

"Excuse me; can you direct us to Charms?" Lily pleaded to a large picture of a lady who looked intoxicated. The woman giggled loudly; dropping her glass of amber liquid (which I highly suspected was firewhiskey, by the way).

She pointed at the ceiling. "Thataway, girls!" I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. In and out, in and out, do not accidently murder, in and out.

"No, she's actually right for once," a male voice called out. I turned to find myself staring at an incredibly handsome older guy. Great description, I know. "Thanks, Violet, but I got them."

The drunken portrait lady laughed and tipped her glass, "Anytime," she promised a bit too cheerfully.

"James!" Lily cried out, dropping her books and tackling this guy. This tackling thing of hers, I think it was becoming a problem. I should probably talk to her about that. "I haven't seen you in _forever_!"

James laughed, releasing Lily. "You saw me yesterday before the train, Lils. You can't have missed me _that_ much."

Lily sniffed, feigning hurt. "Of course I couldn't, dear brother of mine," she picked her bookbag up and suddenly remembered, "Oh! You'll come play Quidditch with us today evening, won't you?"

"Us?"

"Me, Angie, Al, Jakob, and Scorpius. Guys against us and you," I had a feeling James was going to give in.

"Jakob? Angie? New friends?" he questioned, a grin appearing on his face.

Then Lily finally realized I was there too. "Blimey, I'm the rudest person in all of humanity," she sent me a mental apology. I grinned, with a 'don't worry about it' look. "This is my friend Angie. She's Scorpius's little sister."

James smiled at me, and I felt my insides turn to mush. Did all the Potters do that to me? Curse their amazing looks. I managed to say, "Hi, James,"

"I never knew he had a sister, a pretty one, at that?" James raised his eyebrows. I blushed profusely. "Erm… yeah," I sounded like a complete friendless dork. Curse their ability to flirt as well. Why was James, a freaking attractive fifth year talking to me? Oh, right, my best friend has brothers that render me speechless.

"James, we're _horribly_ late! Flirt with Ange _later_, please?" Lily begged, looking thoroughly disgusted. I went red and inspected my black shoes very intently.

"It's my free period," James shrugged. "I'll walk you to Charms. It's on the third floor, not the second. Watch the staircases."

We did finally make it to Charms, but thankfully Professor Flitwick let us off with a warning, reminding us what maps were for. I brandished my map in the air, and I saw a flicker of a smile on his face.

"Alright, we'll begin with simple wand-techniques. We won't start actually incanting the spells until we are all comfortable with our wands. Let's start with a simple swish, which is the base for most spells." Professor Flitwick demonstrated.

I drew out my freshly polished cherry and dragon heartstring wand. If you counted 'freshly', as about a week before Hogwarts when my mother insisted I should keep my wand looking nice. I had reluctantly spent an hour getting all the nooks and crannies in my wand's intricate carving all clean and perfect. I turned it around a couple times, and winced. I had already made fingerprints all over it in the brief second I had held it. _Brilliant_.

Oh well.

"_Watch it_," a girl to my right hissed as I almost poked her in the eye. "You nearly _blinded_ me!" I grimaced, "Sorry," I offered. She narrowed her eyes at me and turned away.

She was sporting a Gryffindor tie. Maybe that's why she was so hostile. I huffed and swished again. This time, it was Professor Flitwick who had to suffer from my wand's deteriorating nature.

"Careful, Miss Malfoy, is it?"

"Yes," I replied, attempting the wand motion again, but not paying attention. "You know, I think I'm improving, Lils!" I heard a soft thud. My wand had found its next victim.

"I don't particularly think the same," Lily groaned, massaging her head where my wand had hit her.

"My wand is possessed by a _demon spirit_, wizard's swear!" I apologized. Lily cracked a smile and swished her wand flawlessly.

"Very good, Miss Potter!" Flitwick remarked and I waited until he was out of earshot to whisper, "How long have you been handling a wand?"

Lily whipped her head around twice and then leaned in closer, crying, "Be _quiet_," She held her finger up to her lips. "I have two older brothers and my brain has an evil mind of its own." She admitted.

I couldn't help but grinning at that.

Lily and I met Jakob at lunch, who was talking to another first-year with a mop of messy deep blue hair that was almost black, but wasn't. We exchanged glances at sat down; I had never seen a color that… _unorthodox_ on anyone.

"Hello," Lily said pleasantly. "I'm Lily, and that's Angie."

The boy grinned appreciatively and said confidently, "Michael Pierce," I stared pointedly at his hair. He ran his hand through it and laughed, "Metamorphmagus and loving it,"

I smiled. "It'll be hard finding you again, won't it?"

"This is my usual shade of hair. I might have a different nose, though," he teased.

Jakob shoved him playfully. "So, is the Quidditch game still on?" he asked. I shot him a smirk. "Of course. We girls don't back down, Nott."

"Do you play?" Lily asked Michael who shook his head solemnly.

"Unless I want to break my neck, I try to avoid flying. I'm not exactly good on a broom, you could say."

"Don't worry. You can commentate, assuming you want to be there," Lily suggested. He nodded. "Of course I'll be there," he said, and then spoke in a hushed voice."Don't tell anyone, but you guys are my only friends at the moment."

We all cracked up. "You chose your friends unwisely, then." Scorpius appeared, Albus in two. I made a face at him.

"What would you know about _friends_, Scorp? It's barely in your feeble vocabulary," I grinned. He threw a roll at my head, which I grabbed and wolfed down. "That was _delicious_, thank you very much."

"Isn't everything with you?" Scorpius shot back. I threw an apple at him. Albus intercepted it and took a bite, eyeing me while crunching down on it.

"Isn't this nice? We're _sharing_," Albus said, gesturing to all the food we had thrown at each other. I smirked, "Guilty as charged, Albus."

"Oh, I ran into James, Al!" Lily said, and Albus pouted. I had to admit he looked adorable and had to resist offering to do his homework for a month. "I was supposed to see him first, Lily!"

Lily beamed cheekily. "Too bad! You'll see him on the field today, quit whining. And put your pout away, that thing is dangerous." Amen.

Finally, finally, the final class ended. I would be spared of Professor Binns's voice for the day. I'd had quite enough, thank you.

I spent the evening catching up on the homework I refused to work on in class, seriously, this was the _first_ day! Lily read or something, that overachiever had finished in class. I rolled up the last of my parchment and sighed in relief. I was finally _free_!

"Hey, d'you think the boys are ready for the field?" I asked Lils. She was laying on her stomach on her bad. She dog-eared the page she was on and set the book on her nightstand.

"I'll check," she said, standing in front of the full length mirror in our dorm. She raked her fingers through her hair nervously, brushed her skirt and white blouse off, and adjusted her tie before asking, "Are you coming?"

I nodded, shaking out my mess of hair. A quick few tosses and it looked decent enough. I scrutinized myself, close to the mirror. Lily tugged on my arm, pulling me along.

"I know where their dorm is, here," she barged through a door down a corridor.

I followed suit, wincing at the fact we didn't knock. Scorpius and Albus were lounging on their beds, laughing. Oh, I forgot to mention, they were lacking in shirts. That didn't help at all. Scorpius glanced at us, acknowledging our presence with a casual wave. _Boys_.

Albus smirked at my most probably very red face. "Problem, Ange?"

"Nope," I said, trying to find my voice. "Are you two ready for Quidditch?" They looked at each other and shrugged, throwing on t-shirts.

"We'll change, and meet you in the Common Room in five," Lily offered and we left them. It was a long time until either one of us spoke again. I slipped into leggings and my favorite emerald shirt, and cleared my throat awkwardly. "You ready, Lils?"

Lily, who was rummaging through her armoire, said, "One minute!" She shut the armoire and tilted her head at me, asking for my opinion. Her loose charcoal colored tee was paired with black leggings. I nodded in approval. "Perfect,"

Scorp, Al, Jakob, and Michael were waiting for us in the Common Room, standing up when they saw us. "You women take _forever_!" Jakob complained. I playfully shoved him and said, "Deal with it,"

We walked through to Gryffindor Tower to pick up James and then the pitch, making casual conversation with the occasional laugh here and there. "Alright, we're getting our brooms," Albus said, nodding to Scorpius. I placed my hands on my hips and glared at them threateningly.

"Since _we_ don't get good brooms, neither does anyone else. Then it's fair," I had Lily grab some brooms from the broomshed and I threw them to the guys, smirking. "I'm playing Chaser; you guys decide the rest,"

"I'll be a Chaser, too," Lily said, mounting her broom and rising off the ground. I joined her and we made a lap around the pitch before smoothly landing. "We got the game."

Albus regarded me. "Nice technique, Ange," I blushed. "Thanks, but I haven't shown you anything yet," I teased.

Scorpius interrupted our banter. "All right, let's play, shall we?"

We decided on two Chasers and a Keeper for our three-on-three 'friendly' game. Notice 'friendly' is in quotations.

We grabbed a Quaffle and tossed in the air, all of us rushing towards it. I managed to snatch it away from Jakob and clutched it close, leaning forward on my broom, and heading for the goalposts. I then realized Scorpius was tailgating me. I jeered left and then made a wide round and threw the Quaffle in the middle post. It successfully went through. Albus looked deeply offended.

"Yeah!" Michael cheered from the stands. "THE PRETTIER MALFOY SCORES!"

I flashed him a grin and spun around quickly. Scorpius and Lily were both trying to get the Quaffle. Scorpius flew faster, but didn't push or shove Lily or anything like that. He must've underestimated her, because she almost pounced on him, shoving him so hard he was almost knocked off his broom and she grabbed the Quaffle, getting past Albus and holding her fist up in victory.

"Never underestimate redheads, Scorpius!" Michael cried. Lily flew for the Quaffle again. Jakob and I rushed after her. Scorpius was somewhat near her, but he seemed to be waiting for her to gain possession and then steal it from her. Al was guarding the middle post. She looped under the goalpost and threw it into the left post, leaving Albus furious. He scooped it up and threw it to Jakob.

"FOUL! Shot for the opposing team!" Michael screamed, pointing at the projectile ball. I intercepted it in midair and took my free shot, making it in. The boys made some goals too, but we beat them by 30 points.

James, Lily and I high-fived in our glory. "Did we _beat your arses_ _off_ or what?" I grinned.

"_Hell yeah_, we did!" Lily cried. "Scorpius, just because I'm a girl mean you can't hurt me. Because I _will_ hurt you if I need to, you know that, right?"

Scorpius sighed. "Sorry, but I don't _want_ to hurt you, Lily. Not even in Quidditch. Good thing we're in the same house,"

Lily's face was tinged with pink, but I doubted that it was from the game. "Too bad, Scorp, because I'm going to play dirty. You might as well get used to the mud," she teased. Scorpius shook his head.

"You can't be that brutal, I mean, you're the size of Angie, and she can only do so much damage," Scorpius stated.

"HEY!" I shouted. "I resent that!" and tackled my dear brother. We scuffled until Albus pulled me off Scorp. I punched his well-defined arm in response.

He dropped me and rubbed the sore spot where I had slugged him. "Merlin, Ange. You've proven your point,"

"And that wasn't event that hard," I crossed my arms and glared tauntingly. Lily joined me in the Glare Fest of Staring Downingness. Yes, that's a thing. I made it up. I should patent that, I bet it'd be wildly popular. I COPYRIGHT THIS!

Right. What was I on again? Oh, yeah, so we left the field and back to the Slytherin dorm, save James, who went off to find his new girlfriend of the week or whatever. You can't expect me to remember every single detail, because, trust me, I won't.

Scorpius and Albus went off to find their year friends, and Lily, Jakob, Michael and I lounged in a corner of the Common Room. It was an hour or so until dinnertime and we chatted lazily.

"So they get to go to the _freaking amazing_ Hogsmeade village, and we don't," I complained. "It's got _Honeydukes_!"

"I wish we were third years," Lily pouted. Then she brightened, "But I know a way to get into Hogsmeade."

Jakob and Michael gazed at her, confused looks on their faces. Lily leaned in close, like she was telling us a secret. Her voice was barely above a whisper. 'The Marauder's Map shows secret passageways into Hogsmeade. During the war, they were all sealed off and destroyed, but," she said mischievously. "New ones were made. And the Marauder's Map shows all."

I glanced at her skeptically. "And where exactly would you acquire such a map?"

Lily face spread out into a grin. "Al's underwear drawer," I made a face. "You're _joking_," I gagged. She shook her head slowly but solemnly.

"I may joke, but not now. I am absolutely telling the truth, and you, Angie, are going to snatch the Map and come back so we can plot for the first visit and successfully gorge in sweets and butterbeer," Lily proposed.

I set my jaw and said, "Absolutely not. If we're raiding _your_ brother's underwear drawer, _you_ should be the one to get the Map,"

"Does it matter?" Lily sighed. I nodded firmly. She gave in. "But only if you come with me in case I get caught," she dragged me along with her on this quest.

She pulled me arm and dragged me through a hallway. "How'd you figure out where everything is?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Maps, I guess?"

I rolled my eyes and we peered around, Lily looking for the right dorm. Then, she suddenly stopped. To our right was a door. Lily breathed in and out, placing her palm on the door. She looked to me for moral support. I nodded encouragingly. "On the count of three," I said. "One, two…" we pushed open the door and stumbled inside.


	3. Chapter 3

The room looked exactly as it had when we had come before the game, but something felt different when it was totally empty. It felt… lifeless. Maybe because it was. Clothes were strewn all over the floor and the entire room was a mess of messiness.

"Tell me if you hear anything, we'll take refuge in the bathroom," Lily said, as she pulled the curtains of Al's four-poster back. The nightstand next to it was covered in Chocolate Frog cards, rolls of parchment, and an assortment of candies and chocolates. Go figure. "You look inside the nightstand, I'll get the armoire."

I followed her instructions, pulling out the first drawer. It was full of empty junk food wrappers. I groaned, I mean, it was the _first _day. What did they do, stockpile junk? I shut the drawer, hoping for better luck with Drawer numero dos. Nope. I honestly didn't care for Quidditch gloves.

"Ange? Did you find it?" Lily called out as she rummaged in the armoire. I groaned in response. "By it, do you by any chance mean wrappers and gloves?"

"No…" she suddenly stopped. I looked around and was confused. She held her hand up, and I heard a laugh and footsteps drawing near. "_Shit!_" Lily hissed and she crouched in the little space between the armoire, and let a spare blanket drape over the furniture and cover her. I could hear her whisper, "Hide, Ange!"

I dove for the bed, letting the bed curtains loose and sat in the middle of the bed, trembling and in ball formation. I heard the door open and tensed, slowly breathing. The voices sounded like Scorp, Al, and two others I didn't know.

"The room looks…different," I heard an unknown male voice say.

"Yeah, who was in here?" a high female voice demanded. I could see through a tiny crack between the curtains, and shifted so the gift of vision blessed me once more. All I could see was cinnamon waves on the back of her head, and she turned to the curtains. "Did you leave these closed, Al?"

I could see Albus shrug. "Probably," he said. "Don't worry, Chasse." So her name was Chasse. She sounded pleasant. _Not_.

"Is it dinner yet?" I heard Scorpius ask. I rolled my eyes.

"Close. We should head down," Chasse said. "Coming?"

"Uh, not yet. I need to find something; Scorp can help me find it. We'll meet you two down," Albus said. I heard the door shut lightly and sighed in relief. Then realized my mistake, but it was too late.

"They're gone. Whoever's in here, come out, _now_." Scorpius said fiercely. I gulped nervously, about to part the curtains, but before I could, I was looking into Al's intense eyes. Needless to say, I screamed.

"Jeez, Ange, I know I'm attractive, but waiting in my bed?" he demanded. I smacked his arm and sprung off the bed.

Lily was waiting sheepishly next to Scorp. "Okay, I know this looks really bad right now… but we have a totally valid reason, see, we-err," she fiddled with her hair. "Wanted to borrow a dress!"

I smacked my forehead. "That's it," I said earnestly.

"Did you find the dress you were looking for?" Albus smirked. I cleared my throat and shook my head. "Sorry, Al, your taste in dresses is downright _awful_." I replied, and grinned when I caught Lily's eye.

"Why were you _really _here?" Scorpius pressed.

"Is that your big brother voice?" Lily questioned, throwing him off. He shrugged. "I have a voice categorizer, you see." She explained. Go figure.

"We…err… okay fine, we were looking for the Marody Map or something," I admitted. Lily groaned.

"_Marauder's_ Map," she corrected. "We _wanted_ to sneak into Hogsmeade, but you two ruined the whole thing."

Albus shared a frightened look with Scorpius and took a deep breath. "So… you know about the Map?"

Lily grinned maliciously. "I know more than you think…" which made me question why I was friends with this psychopath, but she's a lovable psychopath.

"We'll help you and give you the map," Scorpius started. "But, you have to do something for us."

"We _can't _do your homework! Or your laundry for that matter." I wrinkled my nose at the heap of clothes at one corner of the room.

"We never said anything about homework or laundry, _but_ we have something else in mind," Albus smirked. Scorpius shared a look with him and they nodded, and Albus continued. "We want help with our first prank of the school year. Trust me, this is an honor."

Lily and I sighed. "Oh, all right," Lils said, trying to sound disappointed. As if. That little liar was smiling and her eyes shone with excitement.

Just then, a figure burst through the door. It was a girl. A very agitating pretty looking girl. I wanted to punch her flawless jawline. "Oh." She looked severely confused. Her small mouth was pulled together in a pout. "We thought we should wait."

"Hi, I'm Angie." I offered, but Chasse sent me a withering glare.

"Chastity Elmhart. Pleasure." I doubted if it was really a pleasure. So her name was _Chastity_. Then why did Al have a nickname for her? That bothered me…

"Um, I'm Lily," Lily said with a small smile. Chastity didn't return it.

"That's wonderful, now are you done holding our friends _hostage_?" Chastity spat. With her cinnamon brown hair tumbling around her face and her snobby expression, she looked kind of like my aunt, Daphne. She and Mum never got along, it seemed. They fought over my father or something, and Aunt Daphne refused to come to Mum's wedding, which started a big family dispute between them.

Lily clenched her jaw and glared at her. "Not quite yet, so if you could kindly leave…" she trailed off with a pointed look at the door. Chastity moved closer to Albus, farther away from the door.

"Now, now, let's not be rude," She pouted, mocking us.

Albus cleared his throat rather awkwardly and said, "They're our sisters, Chasse,"

Chastity's eyes widened and she visibly relaxed. She probably didn't see us as a threat anymore. "Right," she smiled at us, but I felt still felt the glare she gave me when she saw me. "Sorry, but we were just waiting for quite some time and got worried."

"I'm sure," I lied, bringing myself to smile. "We'll just, err… go," I pulled Lily along as we pushed past her. I made sure to knock into her shoulder with mine as hard as I could. She in turn stuck her heeled boot at me discreetly. I buckled and almost fell, but Lily grabbed me and dragged me out of that she-devil's reach. She's not a she-devil anymore. In fact, she's one of my best friends. But not then. Back then, we weren't quite as friendly to each other.

Lily slammed the door and together we stormed into our dorm, earning scared looks.

"What happened? You two are fuming!" Ella, a kind girl in our year asked.

"Nothing, Ella, we're fine," I assured her, and took several calming breaths. "Do any of you know a girl called Chastity Elmhart?"

Mila, another dorm mate, looked over. She was a third year who got stuck in a first year dorm. She said she didn't mind, but I had the feeling she did. But she was friendly enough and often helped with homework. "Yes," she scowled.

"Let me guess, you hate her?" Lily guessed.

"With a burning passion," Mila confirmed. "She's Hogwarts's biggest flirt, _and _she's horrible to just about everyone."

"Sounds like her," I muttered.

"She can't be Hogwarts's biggest flirt, that position is already taken by James," Lily snorted.

Mila shook her head. "Heck, Chastity Elmhart _dumped _James Potter when she was a _second year_!"

Lily pondered that for a moment. "James went for Chastity and got _dumped _by her?" she asked incredulously.

"It was the talk of the year, honestly. A measly second year dumping _the _James Potter…" Mila made a _tsk_ sound. "She said he was looking at other girls, and dumped him two weeks into their 'relationship'." She made quotations marks around the word 'relationship', most probably because it really wasn't one.

Lily snorted. "I'm confronting James about that," Ella and Mila smiled and went back to reading, or in Mila's case, very intently yanking at her lush dark hair. "Dinner, anyone?"

"Sounds good," I joined her down the corridor and into the Common Room, which was full of students doing this and that.

"So, Lils, what d'you think of this _Chastity_ girl?" I asked, feeling my hands ball up in fists. "Did you see the _way _she was looking at your brother?"

Lily laughed. "Did you see the way she was looking at _your _brother?" I didn't really notice, actually. "I hate her, and I barely even know her."

"I didn't know such evil existed…" I scoffed.

I tried to avoid the guys at dinner, as _she _was with them, clinging onto both their arms and giggling like a hyena when they said anything, or sympathetically sidling up to them when they complained (which was a lot).

"So, you have sisters, huh?" she asked when they engaged in a Quidditch conversation. I faced her, and said, "Yeah, they do."

She sized me up, her eyes narrowing at my face and hair and snorting when she judged my outfit.

"Yeah, they're first years," Scorp said. I inwardly groaned.

Chastity's mouth curled into a smile. "Even better," She tossed her hair over her shoulder and rested her head on Al's shoulder, who was too busy gorging out on mashed potatoes to even notice. But _I_ noticed, and it bothered me. A _lot_. "So, _Angie_, how's your _first_ year at Hogwarts?"

I raised my eyebrows, and nudged Lily's foot with my shoe. "Great, classes are awesome, people are so friendly (with the exception of you, thanks), and older students like you are helping so much," I gushed. "Actually, James Potter, you know him? The one who didn't like you as much as you thought? An ex-boyfriend, right? He's been ever so sweet to me."

Lily snorted. Chastity gaped at me, her eyes displaying utter hate. She looked disgusted but also worried and nervous. "Right," she managed weakly.

"I guess you're going after the other Potter then?" Lily laughed. "Just don't come after me next year."

Chastity wrinkled her nose and huffed. "Doubt anyone would, sweetheart," she simpered.

I grinned at Lily. Al and Scorp were listening _now_, and we would get revenge on that arse-hole.

"Chastity is a _friend,_ guys," Albus reminded us. Chastity looked heartbroken beyond heartbroken.

"I'm not stealing your brothers away," she said haughtily. "But I might borrow them for some time."

Lily and I pretended to retch into our pumpkin juice. "So, Scorp, you got your eye on Chastity too?" I asked, awaiting his response.

He laughed. "Never," he said. "No hard feelings, right?"

Chastity gave him a tiny I-don't-care smirk and growled when he resumed in conversation with Albus. I 'accidently' knocked over her pumpkin juice trying to grab a cob of corn and sat back down before she could notice. "AAAAHH!" she shrieked. "OHMIGOSH! My robes are _ruined_!" Chastity wailed.

Biting back a laugh, I pulled the goblet upright and looked at her sympathetically. "Here, we need to go back to your dorm," Lily said, standing up. I hastily joined her and Chastity was too busy sobbing hysterically to complain.

"Tell us when, alright?" I held her ruined robes as she made a noise that could've been either a whimper or a shiver. She ran into her dorm, but let us come in. She let out a frustrated groan, but just leaned against her armoire, facing us.

"Can you fix me?" she begged. "Please, please, I don't know how Becky does my makeup in the mornings, and I look _rolled over_!"

I sighed. This was going to be a long evening. As she took several deep breaths, I raised my eyebrows at her attire. Her skirt was considerably higher than it should've been, and her white school blouse was knotted above her belly button. _That _is why we wear robes. Her thigh-high socks paired with brown dress-shoes only would work on people like her. She pulled off her loosely done die and yanked it over her head.

"Can you grab me some clothes?"

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Look, we're not your servants. We're doing you a favor,"

"Right, because you hate me. Just, please, unless you want me walking around naked?" Chastity pouted. I cringed and threw some slacks and a bubble-gum pink Witch Weekly shirt at her. She wrinkled her nose but still paraded out of the bathroom in them minutes later.

"Makeup?" she prodded. Lily shook her head fervently.

"You honestly look pretty the way you are, c'mon, it's getting late,"

She sighed, and I finally dragged her away from the mirror she was so intently looking into. She attracted several looks in her bright shirt; not like she cared though. She threw her cinnamon curls over her shoulder and shot us a grateful smile before meeting some of her friends.

The next time I saw Chastity she wasn't in such good spirits. Neither were we. 'We' meaning the population of my dorm.

"You _have_ to, Miss Elmhart, the others were _complaining_," Professor Sherrywood's voice echoed through our dorm on an early December morning.

"Stuck with _first-years_?" I heard Chastity's oh-so-amazing voice wail, waking us up from the coziness of sleep.

"We don't want _you_ either," Mila sniffed at the sight of her, clad in her tight pajamas. She clutched a huge duffel bag with clothes spewing out.

"Mila, you're switching dorms with Miss Elmhart here, so, start clearing out your stuff," Sherrywood instructed. I could've sworn I heard Mila whoop.

Sherrywood left us, and Chastity shoved Mila's stuff onto the floor, and started dumping her junk into the drawers. "What are you staring at?" Chastity demanded of us.

The other first years looked intimidated. Ella snuggled back under the covers, not bothered enough to listen. "Why are you even here?" Lily asked.

Chastity shrugged. "Apparently the girls in my dorm didn't appreciate having a new guy in my dorm every day, but _whatever_, now I'm stuck with you firsties,"

"Don't think we like you," Lily warned her.

"Oh, I know you don't, because the feeling is mutual, sweetheart," Chastity simpered.

That day was the blessed day in which I changed my mind about Chastity. I'll get to it, don't worry. It was a Saturday night, and I had to go to the loo, yes, in the middle of the night, and I woke Lily up. "_Lily_," I hissed. "Loo, _now_."

"Ughhhh," she groggily groaned, but threw off the covers and accompanied me anyway.

I pushed on the door, but it was locked. I banged on it with my fist, and called, "Who's in there?"

"Angie! Oh thank _Merlin_!" I heard through the door. "It's Chastity!"

I mentally groaned. Great. "Get _out_. I need to pee. Bad. Out. Now,"

Chastity cried, "I need loo paper! Can you get me some?"

"Fine," I growled. "Be right back, and then you're _out_." Lily and I stomped down the hallway. "Can we go back to bed now?" Lily groaned. I sighed and pulled her down the corridor. Now where was I going to find loo paper?

"Lily, quick! Where do you find loo paper?"

"How should I know?" she snapped. "You're the one who signed us up for this death mission!"

The empty Common Room was cold and didn't have toilet paper, obviously. I was hoping to run into a house elf, but I found myself tickling a pear instead with an extremely pissed Lily several minutes Lily.

The house elves still working gasped as we burst through, groggy and most probably looking murderous. "Where must one find loo paper at this unholy house of night?" I pleaded. "We didn't know where to go; we're only first-years."

"Supply closets, or prefects bathrooms, miss!" a house-elf piped up. She disappeared with a deafening crack and came back with loo paper in each hand for us. "Here, miss." I thanked her graciously and we left the kitchens, stumbling around in the darkness. Technically, we weren't supposed to be out of bed, so we were pretty lucky we didn't get caught.

"We got the loo paper, Chastity!" I pounded on the loo door. She opened the door a crack, grabbed the roll, and came out with an extremely red face, but I rushed past her. Surprisingly, she was waiting with Lily when I came out, and gave me a civil smile of sorts.

"Thanks for sending us on a wild goose chase, Chastity," I scowled.

She shrugged, smiling. "What're you going to do around here, right?"

Lily placed her hands on her hips and glared. "It was really nice of us to help you, you know,"

"Right," Chastity replied.

"This is the part when you say 'thanks'," I suggested helpfully.

"Oh, yeah, I s'pose so,"

"You're _welcome_," I clenched my teeth.

Chastity rolled her eyes, "_Thanks you_, Angie and Lily," but then she said, "What happened?"

"It includes a laughing pear and a pissed Lily," I explained. Chastity laughed. Lily snorted. I smirked. And pretty soon we were outside the loo, laughing our pretty little heads off. But things weren't as pretty the morning after, when Ella had attempted to go to the bathroom and shrieked at the top of her lungs, finding us in heap outside the loo door.

I had decided, maybe, just maybe, Chastity wasn't as bad as I thought. I gave her a chance, and I'm so grateful I did. She was a pretty good wedding planner, and she makes pretty much the best godmother ever, besides Lils, of course.


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N. idk if you guys are even reading this, but okay… so one of my best friends is a total flobberworm and is mad at me because I stole her 'voice categorizer' idea or whatever, so disclaimer: 'voice categorizer' belongs to my beloved(not)curtain rod (libby)**

The weeks following, Chastity and I might've even come off as friends, or friendly acquaintances, at least. But we still didn't agree on everything, and Albus fell into that category. I could tell her glare when I talked to Albus, and I'm pretty sure I burned a hole into her head whenever she flirted with him. Then again, all's fair in love and war.

It was Christmas Eve (ning) and Lily and I were in the Common Room, her reading, and me bothering her. It was after a heavy dinner, but not as heavy as it would be tomorrow for Christmas dinner. We sat with Scorp and Al who were playing a game of Wizard Chess, with Chastity dramatically refereeing the match. Jakob and Michael were engaged in making a pyramid out of Exploding Snap cards.

I sat with a quill and parchment, absentmindedly doodling. I groaned and threw the crumpled piece of parchment at Lily's head. She unfurled it and raised her eyebrows at me. "Ange, what d'you call this…object of creation?" she asked, sliding it back to me. I grinned. "It's the result of my boredom. It's called the stop-reading-Lils monster," I explained, earning a strange look from another third year somewhat near us.

"So, you didn't want to go home for Christmas?" I questioned. "Why?"

Lils shrugged. "Not this year," she shut her book and hugged her knees. "I want a Hogwarts Christmas, I mean; I've heard they're killer."

I smiled. Everything at Hogwarts was killer. Besides the lack of toilet paper in the middle of the night hidden in plain sight in the Common Room. I should've talked to Professor Sherrywood about that.

"Did you get gifts for everyone?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, even Chasse," I replied.

"Do you think she'd like some Witch Weekly robes? I asked Mum to send some. I have a wardrobe drawer full of them, from when Mum had the Witch Weekly thing,"

"She'd _love_ them," I assured. I had gotten Chastity a cauldron full of lotions, eye shadows, and several tubes of gloss. I still remember her joyful squeals, but we're not there yet, my lovelies.

"For the others?"

"You'll see tonight,"

"For me?"

"Like I'm telling," I snorted. "I'm not as daft as you think."  
>Lily gasped, feigning shock. "<em>Really<em>?" I punched her arm. We watched Al and Scorp spend minutes at a time before moving a piece. I never got chess, not even to this day. It's _confusing_, all right? With all the tower-things and the horse like objects and the king and queen, and only being able to move certain places. _Why_? Why not restrain them all? It would make the whole damn game so much better.

Anyways, that's a whole nother story. I heard a loud noise, and found the cards flurrying down to the floor, with Jakob holding the final card in his hand. Michael's hair turned bright red for a moment to match his severely pissed face, and then changed back to his signature deep blue.

"Be _quiet_, you're distracting me," Albus whined.

"Your attention span is roughly five seconds, he's not exactly doing anything, you know," Lily snorted. "Finish the stupid game already, why don't you?"

"Lily!" Chastity scolded her as if she was talking to a dog.

Lily made a _hmmph_ noise and stuck her nose in the air. I smiled and leaned over Al's shoulder. "Move that one horsey-thingy up a couple; then it can smash the other piece," I suggested.

"It doesn't work that way, Ange," he swatted me away, but still shot me a smile. "Wait, actually… merlin, Ange, you're a genius!"

I tossed my hair over my shoulder and beamed. "Told you," I grinned. He shoved me, ending up with me laughing like a lunatic on the fluffy rug underneath us.

After a few more minutes, the game _finally _ended. Albus won, and I take pride in the fact that I somewhat helped. I still talk about it to this day, you know. Chastity excused herself to go gossip with her giggly gang, and Scorp was trying to teach Lils how to play chess (it didn't work out, by the way).

Albus and I stared at each other, silent. "Your hair," he started.

"What about my hair?"

"The firelight behind you, it makes your hair look pretty…" he blushed. I was probably still redder, though. (I was, I asked)

"Want to sneak down to the kitchens and get some cocoa?" I asked, figuring that was better than being red and silent.

"You know how to get it?" Al looked impressed.

"I'm Evangeline Malfoy. Have you _met_ me?"

"Okay," he smiled. We walked up the stairs to leave the dungeons and faced empty corridors and hallways. "I should take your hand, you know, since you're a tiny first-year, and I can't lose you."

"Have you lost others _before_?" I raised my eyebrows.

"No, it's just, I probably would…" he reddened, but I still slipped my palm against his, ignoring the eruption of pterodactyls in my stomach.

So we walked, hand in hand, taking a much longer route than I had remembered. "Have you been down to the lake yet?" Albus asked. I shook my head. He looked shocked. "You absolutely _have _to go down to the lake. It's prettiest in spring, with the breeze and flowers, and it's so serene, and peaceful, and…Ange, how have you _not _been down there? I'll take you in spring, don't worry, and you'll _love_ it more than anything else!"

He was babbling on and on about the lake, but he was probably right. "Okay, Al, you can take me down the lake in spring, all right?" I smiled.

"_Yes!_" He was jumpy. "Why have you not gone yet?"

"I'm a _first-year_, remember?"

His shoulders sagged. "Right,"

We reached the fruit portrait, and I leaned over to tickle the pear. The door swung open, and Al shoved me in, taking me by surprise, so I had grabbed his arm and we tumbled into the kitchens, attracting stares from the house-elves.

"We have come for cocoa!" Albus shouted. I shushed him, and apologized to the elves, who were more than happy to bring us two steaming mugs of cocoa and a heaping plate of chocolate chip cookies.

Albus and I stuffed cookies into our robe pockets, and left the kitchens with our cocoa. It was the most heavenly, perfectly decadent cocoa I had _ever _tasted, and my mum makes amazing cocoa.

"Can we go back for seconds?" I drained my glass after the first sip had me in love.  
>"That was amazing."<p>

Al chuckled, "Hogwarts cocoa is always the best. We'll come back tomorrow," he promised. I smiled and clutched the cocoa mug, embossed with the Hogwarts seal.  
>"I'll drag you down to the kitchens tomorrow if it's the last thing I do," I warned.<p>

"Alright," he held his hands up. "I never said I wouldn't come."

I blushed. "Right, see, I- I knew that…"

"Ange, why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not,"

"_Denial_…"

"I'm _not _nervous, if anything, I'm _un_nervous, so ha!"

"That's not a word,"

"And since when are you a human dictionary?"

"I don't know, Ange, you tell me,"

"_Albus_!"

"Tell me why you're really nervous,"

"I'd rather not, thanks…"

"Angie… don't make me tickle you," he threatened. My eyes widened in horror.

"Fine!" I gave in. "I'm nervous because, you know, you're a third-year, and I'm this little first-year, and-"

He cut me off. "Wait, Ange," he looked confused. "Just because I'm a third-year, and you're a first doesn't mean we can't be friends."

I sighed. _Guys_. "Never mind,"

"But I _want_ to mind,"

"But I forbid you to,"

"You can't do that!"

"Too bad," I teased. I was smiling by then. We were near the Common Room.

"Angie Malfoy, get back here!" Albus yelled as I ran ahead, my blonde hair whipping behind me.

"Never!" I shouted, and burst into the Common Room. Albus caught up to me, jumping after me in what was either a hug or a tackle. Probably a tackle, though…

"Tell me I am not forbidden to do anything!"

"NEVER!" I shouted defiantly. "Never shall I utter such nonsense!"

"Then face the wrath of Albus!"

"I REFUSE TO FACE THE WRATH OF ALBUS!"

"Too bad," he used my exact words, except with an added smirk.

"_Albus_!" I wailed. "NO WRATH!"  
>"Tell me that I can mind all I want!"<p>

"But I _forbade _you to,"

"So unforbid me!"

"Who's making up words now?"

"Still you,"

"GRRRR!"

"Now unforbid me! Or I will never come to get cocoa with you again!"

"The _horror_!" My voice was dripping with sarcasm, but it would actually kill me if Albus didn't come to get cocoa with me.

"You know it,"

"I do, do I?"

"Yeah, you do… wait what?" Albus stopped to consider that. People in the Common Room were staring, disturbed by the sudden outburst of us entering.

Among these people were Scorpius and Lily, who spoke in hushed whispers, but looked joyful nevertheless. I glanced around to find Chastity, but didn't find her. Scorpius took one look at the cookies we were pulling out of our pockets and the cocoa mugs in our hands and gasped.

"You went to the kitchens without me!" he accused.

I grinned at him. "Why yes, dear brother, we did,"

"You know, Ange is a better sneaking around buddy than you are, Scorp. All you're doing is playing chess with yourself or whatever,"

"I'm _teaching_ Lily to play chess!"

"Because teaching involves whispering and laughing?" Albus snorted.

"Yes, it does!" Lily snapped at him, her face heating up. "Not like your thick head would understand,"

"Hey!" Albus replied, looking offended. "I'm going to my dorm because I don't need to hear this,"

I followed suit. "I'm going too, present wrapping time…"

"Should I come?" Lily offered. I shook my head, and said, "I'm wrapping yours too, Lils,"

I did go to my dorm, after an exchange of smirks with Albus. I had gotten Lily a roll of loo paper that year, well, not exactly. I wrapped a delicate locket with the letter L on it with loo paper, making it look like an actual roll. But after that, I was working on Al's gift. I didn't know what he would want, and I was about ready to give up and ask him, when a thought came to my head.

A memory. The memories that day had been perfect, and I had taken the pain of paying my friend James a visit for help. He looked surprised when I came to Gryffindor Tower, but was awesome help. He showed me how to extract a memory, and even store it in a vial, so you could experience it over and over.

"So, when they pull the stopper, they're immediately placed into that memory, and after it ends, they come back to present day," James explained. "Pretty cool, right?"

I clutched the vial in my hand. "Amazing," I whispered.

"Why are you doing this, anyway?" he asked. I couldn't blame him. It's not every day that a first-year comes and asks how to extract a memory.

"Err, it's a Christmas gift," I admitted.

"Really?" James smiled. "Who's it for?"

I blushed. "No one in particular…"

James chuckled. "Well, good luck with that, and come back if something messes up, come back, okay?"

"Thanks!" I rushed back to the dorms; I was hoping Lily didn't notice I was gone.

No such luck. "Where were you?" she demanded. I cringed. "Loo?" I tried. She huffed and went into the room, clearly not having believed that.

We finished up our wrapping, mostly scarves, sweaters, and chocolates and candies. I tucked the memory vial into a sock, balled it up, and hid it in a nightstand drawer when Lily wasn't looking.

"So, what'd you get for everyone, Ange?" she asked, throwing a lumpy scarf-sized package at the foot of Ella's bed, who was snoring away.

"This and that," I said nonchalantly. "Your gift is absolutely _spiffing_, though,"

Lily grinned. "Great,"

"Reckon we should go to sleep?" I asked, my eyelids getting heavier by the minute. "It's pretty late."

Lily yawned, which I took as a yes. "Sure, it'll be Christmas in the…" she trailed off, her head dropping onto my shoulder. I shook her, and led her to her four-poster, and flopped onto my bed, falling asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

"Happy Christmas!" Lily's voice echoed through the dorm, waking us all up. "Up, up, up! JOY TO THE WORLD!"

"_Lily_…" Chastity groaned. "What time is it?"

"That would be five sharp, ma'am!" Lily bounced on her toes, prancing around the room. I forced my eyes open and found her bright red Weasley jumper with green trim too bright. She wore a red funny looking hat with a fluffy white ball at the floppy end.

"What in the name of Merlin are you wearing on your head, Lils?" I dared to ask.

"It's a _Santa_ hat, silly!" she answered brightly. "Don't tell me you don't know who Santa is?" I didn't.

Ella made an exasperated noise and threw her covers up and said, "He's that one fat old bearded man that goes around Christmas Eve with reindeer pulling his sleigh and a bag of toys for every child around the world, are we _done_ here?"

Lily giggled. "Exactly, but that wasn't very nice," she scolded. "Look, here's a picture." Lily showed us all a drawing of the man and then suddenly jumped, and belted out a song. She sang, loudly and horribly, 'festive' songs about this Santa person.

"So this fat Sandy person is pulled by flying deer with unnatural noses and goes around the world in one night, giving gifts to children by breaking into their homes? And this is all determined by the fact that Sandy _stalks_ small children?" Chastity looked severely worried. "That's not right, Lily."

Lily face palmed, took a deep breath, and smiled at Chastity. "First off, it's _Santa_, not Sandy. They are _reindeer_, not deer. He doesn't stalk children, he watched to make sure they're good," she argued.

Chastity still looked bothered by that. "Still sounds like a stalker, if you ask me…"

"Well, never mind that, it's time for gifts!" Lily brought everyone's gifts near their beds into the middle of the floor, making a giant pile near the festive tree she had yelled at Sherrywood to bring into the dorm. She then bolted out the door, bringing Albus and Scorp with her, who looked more excited than she did, if that was possible. Jakob and Michael came in moments later.

The gifts flew through the door, landing neatly into the pile. "Happy Christmas, all!" Lily shouted cheerfully. "Shall we start?"

"Yes!" Michael pumped his fist in the air. Chastity dragged herself out of bed, fixed her hair, and joined us. Ella joined us as well, and we exchanged gifts in which may have been the best hour of my life. Well, it was then. I've got so much more to tell you about everything between then and now, but if I'm going to tell, I might as well do it properly, right? So bear with me, this is going to be a _long_ journey.

I passed Lily her gift. She pulled it out, and broke into giggles. "Damn perfect, Lils!"

"What kind of gift is loo paper?" Scorpius asked. Lily unrolled the loo paper and clutched the necklace in her palm, tackling me in a hug.

"An amazing gift," Chastity laughed. "Nothing better, is there?"

"Open yours Chasse," I grinned as she squealed at high frequencies.

"They're _beautiful_!" She hugged the cauldron and the robes from Lily to her chest and gushed. "Thanks, guys!"

She tossed me my gift, which turned out to be a fluorescent pink t-shirt with the words, 'Scavenger Hunts in the Middle of the Night Don't Scare Me'. "I made them myself," she said proudly, and Lily grinned at her identical (though green) shirt.

"They're cute, Chasse," I thanked. We were actually becoming close friends, though it seemed impossible.

"Angie, open yours from me," Lily handed me a tiny wrapped box. "I hope you _love_ it."

It was a silver charm bracelet, with a tiny charm of a map on it. I gave her a huge hug; memories of our first day coming back. "It's lovely, Lils,"

The other gifts were chocolates, candies, and various Quidditch stuff and clothes. I didn't want to give Albus his gift just yet, and he didn't give me mine either. Scorp got me a silver anklet with emeralds embedded all along it. I almost felt bad for not getting him anything amazing, but from the sounds of him when he unwrapped two tickets to the next huge Ireland vs. Hungary Quidditch match, I think I did well that Christmas.

I didn't Al his gift until that night, before Christmas dinner. I found him in the Common Room, and dragged him away with the excuse of homework help or something. I dragged him into an empty classroom outside the Common Room.

"What's up, Ange?" he asked.

"I wanted to give you your gift," I pulled the memory vial out of my robe pocket and handed it to him. "Open it."

He pulled the stopper out and he stared ahead blankly. He blinked a few times after a minute or two. "You got me memories?" he crushed me in a hug. "Merlin, Ange, this is perfect,"

I grinned, and said, "Yeah, well…"

"How'd you know what to get me?"

"I didn't. That's why you get a memory,"

"But it's the perfect gift," he insisted. "This makes my gift look horrible in comparison to yours."

I shook my head. "You didn't have to get me anything, Albus,"

"Have you gone _mental_? Of course I have to get you something, _I wanted to_," he smiled, and handed me a piece of parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The ink flooded the paper. My throat seized, my stomach fluttered. In my hands, I was holding _The_ Marauder's Map. Ever since Lily and I tried to find it, I'd found out everything I could about the Map, and possibly fell in love with it.

"Albus…I- this is-" I was at a loss for words. Not one of my finer moments… But it was _amazing._ "This is The Marauder's Map."

"I know, and I'm giving it to you," Albus looked nervous, as if I wasn't going to love it or something. "I see so much potential in you, Ange. We could be the next generation of Marauders."

Tears welled up in my eyes. My vision went blurry, and my throat seized again. "Albus…"

"You're crying," He looked alarmed. "No, what did I do wrong? Ange, what's wrong?"

"No, it's fine," I smiled. Then I started sobbing into his shoulder halfway through the hug I meant to give him. "This is just so…amazing, you know?"

He still looked really tensed. "I'm sorry; Ange, but I don't know how to handle crying women,"

I laughed. "No, these are tears of _happiness_, idiot,"

He sighed in relief. "Good, I was so worried," he said. "Try to scare me to death some more, why don't you?"

"I didn't _mean_ to!" I defended. "I couldn't help myself; the Map is too perfect,"

"Nothing is perfect, Ange," Albus said quietly. "Except you."


	5. Chapter 5

"You think I'm perfect?" I whispered.

"Of course I do, and I will _never_ say otherwise," he smiled. "Who else would be a friend as amazing as you are?"

Oh. Right, friends. _That's what this was about_. I felt so humiliated for thinking it was anything _but_ friends.

"Thanks, Al," I cleared my throat. He ruffled my hair and left the classroom, leaving me in it, feeling lonelier than I could remember in a long time. Why were guys so unpredictable? Just when you _thought_ they liked you, they had to say something to make you feel like you wanted to crawl into a hole and freaking _die_.

That night was the last time I could really ever talk to Al that year. The third years drifted away from us, with long nights of studying and Quidditch practices. Not even Chastity, who was usually always ready to talk to Lils and I, talked to us anymore.

After that, the only time I talked to Al was winter holidays, we were at Hogwarts, and it was my third year. We had just come back from Hogsmeade, and we were feeling like family time or whatever.

"You guys should be ready to _crush _Hufflepuff in the spring, and you lot better do it well. I wasn't made captain to have a team of losers," Albus said, as the conversation's topic was Quidditch.

"How am I supposed to practice without the bludgers?" Lily complained. "It's not as if I go around swinging bats at flying objects every day or something,"

"So, you'll get more practices in, right?" My position as Chaser of Slytherin Quidditch Team would be threatened if I didn't practice more. It's not my fault, the sky wasn't _cooperating_.

"No promises, Ange," Albus teased.

"You could never keep a promise, could you?" I tried to keep a light tone, but honestly, it hurt. Badly. We never went back down to the kitchens that Christmas night. Yeah, I know it was two years ago, but still. Albus broke more than just a simple promise. He had ripped my heart out and into two without even realizing it, and it was taking every last molecule in my body to not… I don't know, like, _combust_.

"I can _so_ keep a promise!" he argued. "Try me!"

I cleared my throat, suddenly aware of our audience. Lily backed away, dragging Scorpius with her. 'You okay?' she mouthed. I didn't need to say anything, she got the general idea.

"Have you- have you, erm, opened that memory vial recently?" I had managed.

"What memory vial?" Albus looked severely confused. "I don't remember any memory vial, Ange, what are you going on about?"

I blinked, determined not to let the tears fall. I remember thinking, _stay in my eyes, tears_. They obeyed. "Don't call me that," I hissed. "It's Evangeline, or Malfoy." I ran out of the Common Room and ran through several corridors and up many flights of stairs, my eyes blurring, and my head spinning.

The Astronomy Tower always calmed me down.

So what bothered the living daylights out of me was the fact that I saw him so much. Even after winter break, which I had _thought _was enough time to get over him; I was proven horribly wrong, I _didn't_. We would pass each other, and I _knew_ that he noticed me, and we often silently acknowledged each other, but _sweet mother of merlin_, that boy had no idea. And I had to freaking pretend it didn't bother me that I liked him so much, and honestly, I wanted to punch him in the face for being so… I don't know, _likable_. Ever wanted to slap yourself for liking someone too much? Yeah, up to fourth year, that was the story of my life.

Anyways, back to the story, Astronomy Tower. I stood there for a long, long time, looking over at the scenic midnight view and questioning myself. I was roused out of my thoughts by the heavy clattering of footsteps behind me. "Go away, Scorpius, I'm fine," I sniffed, brushing my eyes with the back of my hand.

"Good thing I'm not Scorpius, then," I heard a familiar voice say behind me.

I clenched my teeth and exhaled sharply. "I need some space, Albus. I'd really appreciate it if you, I don't know, jumped off the tower or something?"

"That's not very nice," Albus whined. "You don't really want that."

My shoulders sagged. "You don't know that,"

"Err, yeah, I do,"

"Right,"

"Right…"

"Is 'right' all you're going to say?" Albus asked.

"Right."

"Riiiiight,"

"Right,"

"Right?"

"Right." I finally cracked a smile.

"Right,"

"Okay, we're done." I stopped him.

"RIGHT!"

"Shut up,"

"_Right_,"

"Seriously, shut up."

Albus pouted, his bottom lip sticking out. "But I don't _want _to shut up,"

"Right," I said bitterly, before realizing my mistake.

"And you said we were done," he grinned.

"_Now_ we're done,"

"Right,"

I glared at him. "Why'd you follow me?"

"I was worried about you," he said, looking concerned. I raised my eyebrows. "Okay, fine, I didn't want you mad at me, though."

"I'm not mad," I protested. "I'm just…I don't know, okay, fine, I'm mad, but not at you in particular, just at _everything_."

"Don't be mad, An- never mind, you told me not to call you that," he accused. "Don't be mad, _Evangeline_."

"Easy for you to say," I said icily. "But I shouldn't complain to you, I'm sorry, I shouldn't bother you. Just _forget_ it; you seem to be awfully good at that."

He sighed behind me; I turned away and clutched the edge of the Tower railing, my eyes prowling the starry sky around me for answers. "Look, Ange, I'm really sorry," he stood next to me.

I closed my eyes, and tried to ignore the cold seeping through my thin pajama trousers and my Weasley sweater. Mrs. Weasley was the nicest soul you could ever meet. Grandma Narcissa didn't do the sweater stuff.

"I know, but, you don't _get_ it…" I involuntarily shivered as I said quietly.

"You're shivering," Albus observed, and pulled me closer into a hug of sorts.

"And this is _not helping_," I said.

"Not helping what?"

"Me being a 'lovesick crackhead', as to quote from one of Ella's muggle singers,"

"A lovesick crackhead?"

"Err, never mind,"

"You can't tell me to not mind," he smiled. "And I don't need to look at the memory vial, because I can remember that December night perfectly."

"You can?"

"Of course I can, Ange. We haven't been like that in ages,"

"I know, and I hate it," I said miserably.

"We should do some more kitchen trips,"

"You broke your promise that night, though," I scolded.

"I didn't think you wanted to talk to me anymore,"

"Well, I did." I sighed. "And I still do, Albus."

"What, still want to talk to me?"

"No, still love you, you idiot,"

"You what?" Albus sounded like I'd spoken in some foreign language. I tried to pull away from his arms, but he held me back, smiling. "I did _not_ know that,"

"Now you do," I exhaled. "And I feel like a stupid little girl with a crush."

"You're not, Ange."

"Err, yes I am…"

"No, you're a stupid little girl with an incredibly handsome and attractive boyfriend."

"Pardon?" my stomach lurched, but in a good way. "You realize I never agreed to that, right?"

"Right," he grinned. "But you would've, so let's skip the mushy part."

"Right," I smiled, and then shook my head. "But, sorry, Al, not yet. Try again next year."

"Right," he replied. And he held me for a long time that night, and we looked over at the trees and lake, under the dark sky dotted with sparkling stars. Then, the snow started falling. Tiny snowflakes at first that dotted our hair and melted almost immediately, and we didn't care. Then, the snow fell harder, but it was soft, fluffy snow. The snow was icy against my bare face, and I could've sworn my ears froze to deafness (but they didn't).

"It's snowing," Albus noted.

"Nice observation," I snorted.

"Thanks, Ange, I've always been a little smarter than the others,"

I rolled my eyes and leaned into his embrace. "I bet," and added under my breath, "_Not._" It was warm and snuggly in Al's arms, but I couldn't ignore the fact that it was about fifty degrees below freezing. "We should go back inside,"

"I like it here," he said, brushing my blonde locks out of my face. "I like your eyes; too, they're this gorgeous grayish blue color that reminds me of owls against snow."

"You like _my_ eyes, have you looked into the mirror recently? Your eyes are gorgeous. They're this intense green with flecks of gold and slightly hazel around the edges, but the green is just… god, I'm jealous,"

"Want to trade?"

"I wish," I smiled.

I can't write down how amazing that night was, because I want that memory to stay within Albus and I forever, but I can tell you one thing: Kissing in the rain is overrated, and kissing in snow is so much cooler.

Guess what I got for Christmas? Albus kept the trend going and got me a memory like the one I had got him. We gave each other memories as the years progressed, but I'm going farther than I should. Back to third year Christmas.

"Wish we could go to the Christmas Ball…" Lily whined as we sat in the Common Room, helping Chastity get ready. "Next year, though."

"I wish you could come, but thanks for getting me ready," Chastity gushed. "Guess who I snagged for a date?"

My heart dropped into my stomach and I waited for her to either trigger murder or not. "Yeah?"

"Okay, so you're not going to believe me, but I asked Scorpius, and he said yes!" Chastity squealed. I didn't need to look over to know that Lily was fuming.

"Did you really?" Lily growled, her eyes in narrow slits.

"Lily, why don't we go and, erm, get Chastity's dress for her?" I pulled her away from the pretty third year, who looked confused. "Look, I know it's bad, but she doesn't really like him."

"How do you know that?" she inquired suspiciously.

"She's still not over James, you know. She doesn't _like_ Scorp," I lied. "They're just friends, you know."

"I do _not_ know, thanks. She doesn't really look like she wants to be friends, though."

"Well, she does, believe me, don't get mad, c'mon, it's Christmas,"

Lily glared at me but still pulled Chastity's above the knee white chiffon dress off the hanger and handed it to me. I brushed it off and held it against Chasse, who ran off with it to change.

I grabbed a comb and spilled Chastity's makeup bag onto the floor in front of the mirror and started picking stuff up. "At least help me," I told Lily, who shook her head firmly.

"I refuse to help Chastity get pretty for Scorpius," she sniffed and watched me from her four poster.

"How does it look?" Chastity emerged, looking fabulous in the short and stylish dress.

"You'll blend in with the snow," Lily stated bluntly.

"_Lily!_" I hissed. "Never mind her, Chasse. You look beautiful, now sit."

I combed out Chastity's hair and charmed it into soft ringlets and brushed foundation and concealer all over her face. I lined her hazel eyes with chocolate liner and brushed a simple brown over her eyelids. "Au Naturale, Chasse. You look great,"

"Have _fun_, Chasse," Lily drawled and I shot her a look and led Chastity out of the room on her dangerously high stilettos. Scorpius and Albus were outside. Albus was next to a pretty girl who was also a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team, Ebony, who looked relaxed and happy for once. She was loud and slightly rude. I liked the other Chaser, a second year named Kaitlyn, much better.

"Hey, Ange," he sent me a smile. "Not coming?"

"Hi, Al, and hi, Ebony," I smiled at Ebony, though I wanted to punch her in the face. "I'm a third year, remember?"

"Right," Albus grinned.

I involuntarily smiled. "Right, Al,"

"Right, Ange," then Ebony cleared her throat and clutched Al's arm like a possessive psychopath.

Scorpius was probably complementing my amazing work on Chasse, since she was grinning, and shot me a quick grin.

"We should go," Ebony said loudly, giving me a look. "Have fun, Evangeline."

"It's Angie," I offered helpfully, though she didn't think so.

"Whatever, _Malfoy_," she sneered and turned away on Al's arm. They left, leaving me feeling left out and little.

I joined Lily in her sulk-fest. "You know Ebony Quinn?" I asked her, glaring at the thought of her having fun and dancing with Albus. "She managed to get Scorpius to go with her."

"Why do you care?" Lily snorted. "He probably only said yes because she's half-decent looking."

"It's just, I thought no one liked her," I lied quickly. "I didn't think anyone would go with her."

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Lily shrugged. "Who needs brothers and their stupid dates?"

I did… not that she needed to know, of course. I skulked around doing really nothing until the third years started trickling in at about midnight. Albus and Scorpius came considerably later with their dates.

"Hey," I said quietly to Albus. "_Have fun with Ebony_?"

"You stayed up waiting for me, Ange?" Albus looked surprised. "Yeah, it was great, they had some great Wizard bands come, and wait…are you jealous?"

"No…." I lied and walked away quickly. I heard Ebony pull Albus back and start talking to him.

"I have to go, Ebony, err… I'm awfully tired, y'see?" he said. She narrowed her eyes, and put her hands on her hips.

"You don't _look_ tired, Albus," she accused. "More like you want to sneak off with that third year."

"I do not!" he argued. I saw his fingers crossed behind his back, though. "I'll see you at practice or something, Quinn."

Her jaw dropped as I walked forward towards them. "_Fine_, Albus!" she hissed hotly, and stormed off in a group of her friends. "I know!" I heard her whine to them.

"Sorry for _that_," I looked in Ebony's general direction. "You should've taken Kaitlyn or something."

"I wanted to take you, Ange, but I obviously couldn't, anyways, kitchens?"

"For cocoa?" my mood improved considerably. "Of course!"

"C'mon," he and I disappeared into the darkness for our old Christmas tradition.

We went back up to the Astronomy Tower, with our large mugs of cocoa. It was _freezing_, but the cocoa warmed us up, though we still huddled together. "Albus, you know I'm just a third year, right?"

"Stop reminding me, Ange," he scolded. "I hate hearing that."

"But we're just friends," I said. "Right?"

"Right," he grinned.

"I have the tiniest suspicion that you may be lying," I accused.

"Right,"


End file.
